I've released my documentary film on the history of the right to arms, "In Search of the Second Amendment." It stars twelve professors of constitutional law, plus Steve Halbrook, David Kopel, Don Kates, and Clayton Cramer. You can order the DVD here. And here's the Wikipedia page on it. SUPREME COURT SPECIAL: additional orders only $10 each.

What doesn't work in Chicago may also not work in Cheyenne

With regard the Demo platform acknowledgment that "What works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne," it's worth noting that:

"This election season, for instance, the residents of Obama's hometown are being murdered at a clip not seen in five years.

Murders have risen 18 percent over a year ago. Assaults in the city involving guns are also rising. City officials, Police Supt. Jody Weis and the police force are increasingly coming under criticism."

The Constitution reads the same in Seattle as in New York as in DC as in Dallas. Fundamental rights are the same all across the US. Such a difference would never be tolerated in voting, or sitting on a jury or for the 1st Amendment, and the right to self-defense secured by the 2nd is every bit as important as those other enumerated rights. By contrast, we now have an un-enumerated Federal right to kill unborn infants which must be the law of the land in every state.

A poster on another thread correctly pointed out that the 2nd Amendment doesn't so much "secure a right" as it does provide an absolute limit on government intervention.

I keep looking at the post-Heller commentary and thinking that we may have one THAT battle, but by letting the enemy choose the battleground (letting the government define the question), they will win the war.

We're looking to the 14th Amendment for salvation (through incorporation), but the 14th is also the primary vehicle for strengthening federalism, which in may ways is the problem. A stronger Federal government leads to more authoritarian control.

I almost think the better solution is to strike at a weakness on the flank of the issue, but I haven't figured out how to phrase that yet. I almost want to see a new Constitutional Amendment limiting the Commerce clause, or repealing the 11th (limiting lawsuits against the government) or 16th Amendment (Income tax), or strengthening the 10th Amendment.

The Founders were right. The enemy is government and we need to cripple it's expansionary tendencies.

This idea - "what works in Chicago (e.g. gun bans) doesn't work in Cheyenne" is part of the official party platform, is supported by Obama, and was supported by H. Clinton.

This argumentation is nearly guaranteed to backfire on them in a substantial way. For one, gun bans don't work as is being increasingly shown via criminological and social science research. Moreover (and as importantly), the philosophy is morally and constitutionally bankrupt. In other words, it is simply untenable, and this position or philosophy will almost certainly die a welcome death in an upcoming 2A incorporation case.

In the mean-time, we watch the deomcrats dig themselves deeper into a second amendment hole.

What we should do is take every opportunity to point out that the phrase "we know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne"
is essentially racist in construction and intent: It's a message to middle class white men saying "we don't want to take your deer rifles, shotguns, or Colt Peacemakers, we just want to take guns away from black people.

Of course, this is generally the intent of gun control in the first place, and has been since the first gun control laws in the colonies back in the 1600's, but it never hurts to point out the racist implications of what they are saying.

I wish I could find the numbers I worked out last spring for an op-ed submission I made to the Chicago Tribune. Maybe I will later.
Illinois' murders are basically concentrated in a tiny zone centered just south of the Loop (the downtown business district).
As I recall, something approaching 90% of Illinois murders occur in Cook County (which includes Chicago and contains approximately 20% of the state's entire population- quite a thing for one county of 102).
Over 80% occur in that little rectangle in the city that's about five miles wide and fifteen miles tall; about one-tenth of a percent of the state's total area.
You'd think it'd be easy to spot.
Meanwhile, to explain the gun laws in the state, refer back to that thing about Cook containing 20% of the population.
The six-county metro area is now more than half. Much of the "collar" counties' former moderating influence has disappeared as those populations are swelled by escaped Chicagoans.